I just spent some time on the phone with Jered Serben, who runs a small, free range meat and poultry farm near Smoky Lake and has a booth at the downtown farmers market.

Last week, during the hot weather which culminated in a lightning storm on Tuesday the 2nd of July, Serben Free Range farm lost about 200 chickens. Jered, who runs the business with his wife, Julia, says he’s not exactly sure how the chickens died. He checked the animals, which were full grown and ready to be butchered, shortly before the lightning storm hit, and they were roaming the pasture, healthy as ever. But within a few minutes of the storm, when he went back to check again, dozens and dozens of them were spread out, face down, and dead.

“We’re not exactly sure what happened,” says Jered. “It could be a combination of the heat, and the quick cooling of the temperature with the storm.”

Though the loss of the chickens is a hiccup in the production schedule, customers probably won’t notice, says Jered, who will be at the market this coming Saturday with his free range chicken, pork, lamb and eggs. While the death of the chickens is also a financial blow, Jered says it’s mostly an emotional loss.

“You raise animals because you love to raise animals. Money is a big part of it because it pays the bills, but on our farm, we don’t look at the money first. It’s the well being of the animals first. We do the best we can do raise them properly and when something like happens, it hurts.”

The Serbens will raise another group of meat birds as soon as they can get them going, and they may have to juggle their schedule for a while to get back on track.

“There shouldn’t be too much of a lull,” he says. ” It’s just an incredible loss. You just have to keep going.”

For ongoing news on Serben Free Range, you can keep up with them on Facebook, or follow them on Twitter @serbenfreerange.

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